Fire and Ice Part 4
by Cassiem101
Summary: A zutara fanfiction.


_2 years later_

Katara pressed her hands on the balcony rail. Inside, she could hear Uncle chatting to customers as he poured them tea. Toph and Aang laughed. Suki yelled at Sokka for something or rather.

This was the balcony. The very same balcony where, 2 years ago, she and Aang had kissed, and this time she had started it. The very same balcony where Zuko had stood 2 years ago, fuming. The very same balcony Aang had declared his love for her.

The very same balcony on which her heart had broken.

After the kiss, she and Aang had gone inside, holding hands. Zuko had said his formal goodbye. She and Aang had kissed some more, and the more they kissed, the more she got used to- even liked- his touch.

Aang had official avatar duties to attend to and most of the time he wasn't around. But when he was, he was always holding hands with her or had his arm around her. He was very possessive, yelling at her if she so much looked at another man.

Another year older, another year wiser, she thought drily. She was 16 now. She had grown to be tall; without shoes, she was around 5"11. She couldn't be bothered plaiting her hair everyday so mostly she let it loose. Her hair loopies were a part of her; she couldn't bring herself to chop them off.

Katara felt a grin stretch over her face when she thought of her 14 year old best friend, Toph. Toph had become the best earthbender around, and still participated in earthbending tournaments, even though now she had her black hair in a stylish ponytail, reddened her lips and cheeks and had long-ish nails. Her girly appearance fooled most. Underneath, she still was the tomboy she always was.

Aang laughed again, too loudly to be natural. He was trying to annoy her- and it was working. She felt angry and sad that she was left out of the loop. She looked back on the worst night of her life.

For the past few days, Aang had been sleeping on the same bed as her. She was never comfortable with the situation, but said nothing.

So the night Aang 'made moves' on her, and she rejected him for – and these were his words exactly – "no reason at all", he was very hurt. He yelled at her, and she nearly waterbended him into the floor. How could he be so blind that he couldn't see that all her feelings for him had been eradicated?! They slept in separate beds that night.

The next night, though, when Aang began his advances on her, she curtly said, "Enough. I've had enough of your nagging and yelling. It's over, Aang." So now, in revenge, Aang was flirting with Toph.

Katara squinted into the sunset. A messenger hawk flew towards her at top speed. Was that- was that Hawky?! Zuko, she realised. Sokka had given the messenger hawk to him as a parting gift from all of them.

Hawky flew obediently onto her arm. She stroked his feathers and pulled out the scroll of paper.

_Katara, _the note read.

_My father has escaped. He was metalbended out of his cell. To my knowledge, Toph Bei Fong is the only metalbender around. She may be detained for questioning._

_There was a note left behind. It was from my father, addressed to me. It said he was going to 'get' me through the person I loved most. I'm not sure what this means, but I think he thinks it's __you__, because underneath his sign off was, burned into the paper, your name and the Water Tribe symbol._

_I believe he is coming to find you because in his insane state he seems to think you and I have a relationship. At the moment of sending this note, I am on my way to Ba-Sing-Se on my ship. I am coming to protect you and Avatar Aang, as well as questioning Toph. I shall be here within the week._

_I look forward to seeing you._

_Fire Lord Zuko._

Katara's fingers trembled as she stroked the words; _I look forward to seeing you. _Why? What did he think of the accidental kiss- or rather, two kisses- when they both were but children? Did he read into it too much, thinking that she actually meant something? Of course she hadn't. Inwardly she cursed her teenage hormones.

She turned from the balcony and went inside, Hawky on her left arm and the note clutched in her right hand. Aang and Toph turned to her as she went inside.

"Ah, Katara. How are you?" Aang said in this haughty voice, as if he was better than her. Then, seeing Hawky, he grew serious. "Zuko?"

Katara nodded and held the note up to him. He took it and began scanning it quickly.

Sokka called for Hawky and began petting the bird, cooing to him like a baby. Suki laughed. Iroh put teacups down heavily in the kitchen. All of these noises were irritating- but Katara watched Aang's face closely. His expression changed to angry to worried to extremely pissed off.

He handed her the note and wordlessly walked away to heave himself onto the nearest couch.

Katara wandered off into her room. She had decorated it with water nation colours and it felt like home. Taking some water from a pot specially kept at the foot of her bed for this exact purpose, she began to twist the water in her hands. Once she had it as she wanted it, she froze it.

An exact replica of Zuko in her room. She admired the sculpture, but not even her beautiful element could capture the sparkle in Zuko's eyes. Sighing, she remelted the ice and moved it around. She felt like she was dancing with the water, which felt natural and soothing. Nothing like a bit of water to calm her down, she thought.

She retired to bed that night happy.

When she woke up, all she saw was the dark and ominous shadow of a person standing over her. Leaping to her feet, she pulled the water around her and shot the person against the wall before freezing them.

"Who... who are you?" She asked, her voice trembling. A stranger... in her room? She was a little bit unnerved, to say the least.

"Master Katara. What a friendly greeting. I thought you would be glad to see me!" The husky voice echoed through her ears, not registering everywhere. Somehow her mouth said, "Fire Lord Zuko", and she melted the ice and fell to her knees.

"None of that. Get up." He was very serious, she realised, as she straightened up and put the water back in the pot.

"How have you been?" She asked warily as she sat down on the bed. He leant against the wall and studied her before answering.

"Stupid question. I'm running the most destructive country in the world, my people want war and Mai hates me and will never talk to me again."

Katara made a sympathetic noise and asked why, not really paying attention. How he had grown! He had not traditionally grown his hair long as most fire lords had done, but left in its shaggy mess. She wanted to reach out and touch it, but she folded her arms so she couldn't. Something he said awakened her, though.

"... Apparently I was going on about some other girl. And if I wasn't talking about her I was thinking about her. Mai broke up with me." He didn't really care. Mai was like a robot, she had no feelings of her own. He was tired of her.

To him, Katara was the most beautiful thing he had seen. Her hair had gotten a little bit straighter, her eyes a little bluer and she was much taller. She looked elegant in new northern Water Tribe clothing.

He sat down beside her and touched her arm lightly. She looked at him, alarmed. She still looked young, he noticed. He had been paying attention whenever news about her came in. Her waterbending had gotten stronger and stronger. She could probably beat him in a fight now. She could have _always _beaten him in a fight. She beat Azula when Sozin's comet was upon them!

Taking her face in his hands, he leaned down and gently brushed his lips with hers. She tasted sweet and cool, just like he remembered. Only better.

She leapt up, angry and happy at the same time. She hadn't been truly happy since he had left. What an unusual greeting, she thought. Considering the terms they had left on. She had been almost certain he had seen the kiss between her and Aang.

"Out. It's the middle of the night." She pointed to the door. When he didn't move, she threatened him. "Don't make me waterbend the crap out of you!"

When he was gone she leant against the door and sighed. He had certainly changed.


End file.
